Favela
by Cordova
Summary: Thom Lago, he's had it rough and it's not geting better for him anytime soon. Living on the streets of Rio has taught him a lot. And it almost earned him a death sentence. But Japan is his home now, the favelas have now turned into bustling streets and neon lights for him. But he hasn't forgotten the pain and now the only thing that comforts him is the taste of revenge.
1. Had You Been Around

******A new tale.**

******A new venue.**

******A new line.**

* * *

******Amigos dos Amigos HQ, November 30th, 2009, Rochinha, Rio de Janiero, Brazil**

******7:57 P.M.**

Here he was. Thom was looking at the enemy he had waited so long to see vanish before his every eyes. Everything he had been waiting so long for had finally arrived.

Shaking as though the earth beneath him trembled, Samuel laid in more pain than he he had ever taken in his entire life. His clothes tattered and filled with sweat and large portions of blood, his hair rumbled and shaken and even somewhat burnt, and his face. Well, it was still there.

Which made Thom angrier.

Thom slowly walked around the fallen Samuel as though he was a bird circling around his prey waiting for it to take it's last breath. He finally stopped when he faced the man's feet. He raised his Taurus Tracker, with a grip so powerful that could not be broken. It seemed as thought the colt. and him had made an everlasting bond that consisted of bloodshed and vengeance. Not uncommon for a man and his gun.

A smile drew upon Samuel's face. He started to laugh even though it pained him to do so.

"**Well...what are you waiting for...you've made it this far. Are you telling me that after all of this...after all of this you passed through you're not able to do such an easy thing as pull the triger...YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE! FINISH THE JOB!**"

Samuel began to cough up the pain in the form of blood and cancer.

Thom watched as the man who used to own the world (or at least the favelas). He stood still. Time had seemed to stop for him and for a second, he seemed to ponder if after everything he had gone through had been enough to prepare him for the final objective.

It actually fascinated him. Two years of lying around doing simple tasks had lead him to this moment.

Thom thought about those two years. The schooling, the learning, the teaching, the strategies, the clues, the pain, the shivers, the loose ends, the blood shed, and the money. Learnt by the master himself, Mike.

Well this was for Mike.

And Paublo, Juliana, Bruna, Lucas, Gustavo, Daniel, Camilla, Fabiano and the rest.

And her? Yeah her too. She may not be dead, but she meant a lot to Thom. Just a stubborn little girl who had no idea who he was yet she knew more about him than anyone else that Thom knew. Learning from her was a bit different and off, but it came around and helped him sometimes when he was in moments of sure death. Hell, just thinking about her made him feel better. It motivated him, to keep going, to keep making it up the next step.

Taiga.

And now here he was.

So the answer to this man's question?

The gun prepared itself, the man named Samuel held his breath.

Well, the answer seemed to be simple to Thom.

**Had You Been Around...**

* * *

**This is a fresh story using Toradora as it's backdrop. But don't expect sunshine and sparkles, because you won't much of it.**

**"I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done."  
-Budda**


	2. The Chloroformed Dream

******Hey, everyone. This story involes Toradora and is something I'd like to continue for a while. If you're familiar with any of my previous work, then you'll know that I always use an "Infinite Playlist" in my stories. An "Infinite Playlist" is a playlist specifically created as a soundtrack for each chapter. It's recommended that you find these songs and play them at the time they are called for in each specific event that happens in the chapter. Enjoy. **

******HEADS UP!**

**This is Portuguese**

_This is English_

This is Japanese

**Infinite Playlist:**

******Segartâget - Maskinen, Herbert Munkhammar, Oskar Linnros**

******JSB/RPG - Max Richter**

******The Haunted Ocean 5 (Solo Version) - Max Richter**

* * *

**O Limão, November 9th, 2006, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  
3:45 PM**

"**We don't have much time so let's make this quick**." said Matheus who was smoking a cigarette.

Thom Lago sat in the pink plastic chair adjacent to his friend, Raul. Thom wore white khakis and a green jersey with two white stripes on the side. His shoes looked as though they were attached to his feet. They were blue. His black curly hair was all sweaty, as well as his face.  
His two last friends sat behind him. Ana and Luiz were tired and scared. Thom knew that they had been through so much but they had to keep calm. He hadn't broken this far and he wouldn't break now.

"**The plane leaves at 7:55. There'll be a man named Guilherme at Gate 2B. He will take you to the bottom of the plane where you will hide in storage. Now, my friends, you will be in there for quite a while. You must drink plenty of water to keep you hydrated. From there, you will be on your own.**"

"**How long?**" asked Thom taking a drink from his crushed water bottle. He put it back into his small backpack.

"**He didn't tell me.**"

"**How long do we have till the flight?**"

"**Shit, alright. I'll be back.**"

Thom headed towards the bathroom. It was covered in piss and sex. The bathroom was a craphole. He took his piss then looked in the mirror.

A shallow face. A sad face. A face that represented agony. He could hear their screams. Their moans. The bullets fluttering through the air ending the lives of over twenty. Twenty kids whose lives we're ended because of the truth. The goddamn fucking truth. His hands were a tad bit bloody. His face was sweaty. He washed off the di-

"**Mãos ao alto! Agora! Não faça um som de merda, porra você traidores!**"

Nothing ever seemed to be easy for him.

* * *

**Two years later-**

**Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, April 23, 2008, Tokyo, Japan  
8:59 PM**

Thom looked down from the balcony. The city shined and gleamed beautifully. He looked at the glass he held, half filled with water. A sliced lemon was resting on top. He put the glass down on the table beside him, slowly putting his hands in his black jacket's pockets. He looked good with some cheap black loafers and slacks. He had to cut back on the alcohol. Nah, just kidding. He didn't drink much.

He was security. Along with a couple of other fine gentlemen he knew around the block. The pay was good, but he got a tad bit more than the other gents. He lived with his boss. Protecting the innocent and important for green was what he thrived for.

Someone was chatting on the intercom device attached to his ear.

"Lago, how does the first floor look."

"Huh? Everything down here is fine. I don't see anything weird."

"Good. Listen there are some guys down near the entrance causing some problems. Can you go take care of them?"

"Alone?"

"No, no. I got Michishige going along with you."

"Alright, Ed. _Michi_, let's go."

"Right behind you, friend." said a voice. Thom turned with a grin to see Michi standing beside him. His orange spiky hair looked fancy. He was a nice thirty-five year old sexy bitch. Wearing white suited him.

"Let's go."

They made their way to the elevator passing the wealthy Japanese who were drinking and enjoying the moment.

Thom pressed the main floor button.

"How's the adventure been so far for you, my boy?" asked Michi with a smile resting back on the walls of the elevator heading down.

"Well seeing how I've been doing this for a while now, I'd say I'm getting 'the hand of it', Michi." replied Thom with a laugh.

"You wise ass. Why aren't you in school?"

"Don't talk to me about that shit. Ed is making me start soon."

"Really! And here I was thinking that you only knew how to protect and drink."

"Haha. Very funny."

"But seriously, why is he making you go?"

"I don't know. He says that 'Everyone should have a chance at an education. No matter how bad they are'."

"The words from a man with a past."

"Fuck off, Michi. I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, princess. Anything else I can do for you? I am humbly at your request." replied Michi with a grin and giving Thom a curtsey. He truly was a smart-ass.

"Yeah, a plane ticket to America and a chloroform filled rag so I can shut your mouth up."

"You truly are the prince of darkness."

"I feel honored."

The elevator finally stopped. The bing of the elevator made Thom flinch. He didn't like fighting, but he realized that negotiating with thugs or criminals never seemed to work. The weak were usually the ones who tried to negotiate. They always ended up either in a body bag or in a drainage ditch at the end of the day. How fantastic.

Of course, they were thugs or as the locals called them, "Yakuza". They we're assholes, but they we're also the kind of people you didn't want to fuck around with. The yakuza were notorious for their strict codes of conduct and very organized nature. They didn't take shit from anybody and they intended on keeping it that way. It was easy to identify these bastards by looking for tattoos on their bodies. Most of them had at least one on their yellow backs. There were three of them. Their hair slicked backed to make it look as though they were tough. Please, the only way to make these bastards look tough was to put a gun in their hands or have them covered in blood. These kids were impostors. The only thing they probably had going for them were the girls. Somehow, the ladies loved a man in dragon tattoo's.

"What seems to the problem here, gentlemen?" said Michi rubbing his hands together identifying each of them. Thom did the same, and moved next to Micchi as they walked closer to the guys.

"Nothing, nothing, sir! We're just walking around, getting some fresh air." said the tallest one with a big grin on his face while the two others held back laughs.

"Oh, really? Then why are walking around in an underground parking lot?"

"I like looking at cars." More laughs.

"How about you and your buddies fuck off. No one wants to deal with your punk ass's right now."

"Oh? Sir, you hurt my feelings! I didn't mean to do harm! We'll leave...fucking asshole..." They start walking back to the entrance of the parking lot.

Then he noticed it. A fancy BMW. The doors were unlocked and the driver's door was open just a tad bit.

******Segartâget - Maskinen, Herbert Munkhammar, Oskar Linnros**

"Hey, get back here!" I shouted after them. They started to run.

"The tall one, Thom. He has it!" shouted Michi rushing for the parking lot door controls. Great, Thom would have to chase after this prick in his nice clothes. He rushed for the guy rushing past the two others who weren't as fast as their fucking tall friend. The guy made a left past the garage and started rushing down the walk, avoiding the people in his way. Thom rushed after him making sure his he had his nightstick. Yeah, he had a nightstick. It actually hurt like a bitch.

"Thom, what's going on." said Ed through the intercom device. He sounded very calm. As though he didn't seem to care at all at the situation Thom found himself in.

"Fucking guy came down to the garage and looted some car."

"Thom, let him go. We're here for the party, not to chase some pricks looting cars. It's not worth getting all worked up over."

"I can get him. He's not that fast."

"If you're going after him, then don't lose him."

"No shit!"

The prick ran quickly into an alley rushing past a couple behind a wall touching each other. Thom rushed for him feeling the sweat rain down him as he made it past another corner to chase one bastard. Thom was getting tired of this crap. He didn't like protecting snobs as it was and now this?

Fun.

His job was supposed to be simple. Observe the party and make sure that nothing weird showed up on the top floors (drugs, guns, any form of gang member, the regular stuff) and now he was chasing an asshole through the streets just because he thought it was the right thing to do. In a way he felt bad for the guy, it was their way. They had to make their means somehow. The same went for the snobs upstairs, but they didn't have to break a sweat. For a second, Thom almost decided to let him go, but then he remembered something.

He had to make his means as well.

The guy slipped on a puddle of mud water and fell into it, his body was covered in what looked like shit. He looked up and before he knew it Thom's foot was in face. The guy passed out with a grunt. Some blood started to trickle from his nose, but Thom couldn't care less. The guy looted a car and this was the price for doing so.

"You got it?" asked Ed on the intercom.

"Yeah, lemme see." replied Thom who shifted the guy so that his back was facing Thom. He made sure that his face wasn't in the puddle. The guy may have been a prick but he didn't deserve to drown for being one. "He stole a cellphone. Shit."

"What?"

"It's all wet."

"Crap. Well, bring it back and let's find out whose it is."

"And him?"

"What about him?"

Thom looked down at the guy's body observing his twitching and soft moans. How someone could live a life like his, he couldn't fathom. But Thom wasn't any better. In some cases he could be considered worse. Guess that's the way things work sometimes.

"Guess you're right." he replied as he slowly walked away from the guy. He wondered how he would wake up. Confused? Or maybe startled that he's lying in a disgusting puddle.

"Hey, Thom?"

"Yeah?"

"Good job."

"Screw you."

* * *

**Åhashi High School, March 4th, 2008, Tokyo, Japan  
11:00 AM**

"**Why me?**" said Thom checking his phone. He unbuttoned his black jacket. He hated his new uniform. His green shirt underneath represented his heritage as he walked to his new classroom. 2-C. Why he was doing this? Because of course Franklin thought'd be a good idea. To be "in" with everyone else would make me seem like a regular. Two years of doing the same shit and getting better at it made Thom into a stronger Brazilian mother fucker, but that wouldn't matter where he was going. Great.  
He knocked on the door to 2-C.

"Yes, come in!" said a young female's voice.

With that Thom closed his eyes, gave a small sigh, and ruffled his hair a bit.  
He opened the door.

"Ah! You must be our new student! Class, I'd like you to welcome our newest student, Thom uh Tom ummm"

"Lago."

"Lago! Thom Lago."

The students greeted him and he was seated near the window.

"Now students please turn to-"

Thom immediately spaced out.

It wasn't that he wasn't interested in the subject, he just found it unnecessary to learn. Thom believed that the brain could only take so much knowledge and that the knowledge the brain consumes should be valuable. Learning about geometry was not valuable to Thom. He only wanted to learn about things that could actually be useful to him in the future, things that could save his life. When he first arrived in Japan, he didn't know much, just how to run and hide. Ed found him and that was that. He learned, he realized what to do so that he wouldn't end up being tortured in some fucking gimp's garage. Of course.

Someone tapped his shoulder, a girl, with a letter in her hand. She wasn't smiling, was there a need too? Thom look at the small letter in a pink folder entitled "To **Thom**". Thom then opened the letter up.

"Welcome class 2-C!  
-Minori"

The sides of the letter portrayed drawings of various happy things. Sunshine's, smiling faces, etc etc. Thom didn't know who the hell this Minori girl was, but it did make him smile. He looked around the room, everyone was paying attention to the board. Then she saw her. A girl with red hair and maroon eyes. She was cute, seemed nice. Thom nodded at her with a smile and she replied by smiling back.

"Seems nice." Thom thought looking out the window with a small smile. At least he had made a friend. Or an acquaintance for that matter. It was a nice view. He could see the trees from down below. The sun was out, blue filled the skies. What a good day. Thom closed his eyes and with that fell asleep.

* * *

**JSB/RPG - Max Richter**

It was lunchtime by the time he had awoken. He had already found his way to the roof and was looking down to the ground where the ants roamed and the cars zoomed by at speeds unknown to him. He pulled his cellphone out. Checking the time.

**12:04 PM**

"**Damn**." he muttered putting his phone away. He looked back at the view, his hands attached to the fence. He leaned against it. He was tired. He didn't have anything to eat.

"Well, it could be worse. You could be back in Rochina drinking water out of soda cans, Thom." he thought chuckling at the idea. He looked down at his shoes then back up at the sky.

He turned to his left. The girl from before was also looking out at the sky with her jacket on her back, waving in the air as if it was her cape. Strange, was she here to welcome him into this new school? He turned his head. Two other people were observing her as well. One was a boy who was a bit shorter than him with blue hair and the other was a girl who was very short and had blonde hair. Thom then noticed that everyone here had very good looks, a lack that had almost passed over Thom's head, well at least he thought.

"Taksu-kun." said the red head girl still looking out towards the blue sky while the air fluttered her jacket (cape) around.

The boy panicked since he was whispering into the ear of the other girl. "Yes! Eh..me?" he said sounding scared or nervous or maybe both. Thom watched. He had just realized that they hadn't noticed him standing there.

The girl turned around smiling at them. They must have been really close friends. It seemed that way, hell the boy and girl looked like a couple.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" shouted the red haired girl, startling Thom and the blue headed boy. Thom's heart started beating fast. That was just damn weird! The hell? Suddenly she was in the air like some sort of superhero, her jacket had fallen off sailing into the ocean blue air. She was a woman, defiantly flying through the air at super fast speeds showing that she was not afraid to kick ass. Yeah, sure. She then hit the ground in bowing position for some odd reason. Thom didn't know what Ed was thinking when he signed him up to got to this crazy-ass school.

"Please take good care of Taiga!" she exclaimed still in bowing position as if she was pleading for her life. Thom was confused, but then again it made sense to him. It made sense to him in the way that he barely knew these people and they had their own crazy lives to cope with that did not revolve around him and frankly he was glad he wasn't involved in such weird shit. Was she shaking? The other two were just as confused as Thom.

"Taiga is my most important best friend! Please, please make her happy!" she said almost on the verge of crying while she spoke. Thom knew it. Those two were dating. A grin appeared on his face. He never did understand other people that did not understand him, but for just a second, he felt glad for the two. Seemed as thought they deserved each other. Oh, wait, the guy's named must have been Takasu.

"Wait, wait a minute, Kushieda!" said Takasu, (blue headed boy) seeming very scared and beginning to panic. Thom decided this would be worth the watch and sat back on the fence crossing his arms and putting one of his legs on the fence. "Is she..." he said.

"Happy?" said the small girl who was confused finishing his sentence. Suddenly, they all heard clapping. They all tilted their heads towards the roof of the entrance to the rooftop. Her name must have been Taiga. Wait, what kind of name was Taiga? That's not Japanese, is it?

The clapping came from a young boy around their age range with...dark blue hair? Or maybe it was black hair? It was all a wonder to Thom, who was more curious on how the boy even got up there. The boy must have been a smart guy, at least it certainly seemed that way seeing how he was able get up there. The glasses made him seem very intelligent. "So that's how it is. It's something to celebrate, you two," he said looking down at them with a smile upon his face. He must have also been a close friend to the three, right?

"Kitamura?! How did you even get up here?!" exclaimed Takasu, who must have also been bewildered by his friend's(?) ability to climb to such high places.

"I had already been thinking that you guys were a pair, but now I now I realize that you two are truly compatible with each other!" this Kitamura boy responded looking up into the sky with a huge grin as if he were talking to God.

The girl called Taiga fainted and the Takasu fellow quickly caught her trying to wake her up. Then he shouted at the laghing Kitamura who was now laughing at the gods as though he had placed bets with them and had won.

The red headed girl then started to threaten Takasu, telling him not to hurt Taiga or else she'd never forgive him.

All of this just made Thom laugh. It truly was a sight to see. He felt like he was at the circus, watching four clowns do the weirdest crap and say the strangest stuff. Thom felt like the odd one out in this situation, but then again, they hadn't even noticed him! Then he quietly coughed.

All of them turned their heads towards the direction of Thom, minus Taiga who was still passed out in Taksu's arms. Thom observed them, they observed him. He was a bit annoyed.

"A witness!" exclaimed Kushieda, jumping up into the air with a roar and finally landing in front of Thom in the bowing position yet again. "Please don't tell anyone about our conversation, Toma!"

"It's Thom, and this never happened." he said wiping the grin off trying not to get himself involved. He got off the fence and started for the door, but Kushieda extend her arms out so that he couldn't leave.

"I can't just let you leave not unless you pinky pinky pinky pinky promise me that you won't tell anyone of this!" she showed a brave face to Thom's eyes.

He raised his eyebrows.

"You're joking, right?" he said, looking up into the sky.

"I never joke!"

"You should probably just do it. She never let's down unless she gets her way." said Taksu looking at Thom still a bit worried for Taiga.

"Fine," replied Thom pinky promising the girl that he would never tell a soul of this incident. "Happy?"

"Yes!" she smiled seeming extremely happy. What a strange girl. She let her arms down and Thom walked past her, observing Taiga still passed out in the worrying Taksu's arms.

Thom opened the door wondering if all the Japanese kids nowadays were that odd and strange.

"Hey!"

Thom looked back to see Kushieda grinning with her arm held up towards Thom with her hand in the shape of a gun.

"Don't think that you haven't heard the last of me!" she proclaimed pushing down her thumb which portrayed the hammer of the gun.

Bang, bang, bang.

And like that, Thom was dead.

Thom chuckled and waved his hand grinning and with that, he made his way down the steps as the door slowly forced itself back down into the closed position.

* * *

**Ed's Apartment, March 4th, 2008, Tokyo, Japan  
10:34 PM**

**The Haunted Ocean 5 (Solo Version) - Max Richter  
**

Thom leaned his hands on the glass wall. He viewed the city glow in the dark and as the traffic slowly crawled down below, Thom felt the urge to go out. But he wouldn't. It wasn't the brightest thing to do. He sat himself on his dirty bed looking the ashtray that lay on the chipped wooden table. The smoke rose from the cigarettes that Ed had smoked before going out.

Thom rubbed his eyes. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. He'd like to, but he was having flashbacks. They wouldn't go away. Seemed as if they came around the back right when Thom was healing. The past, the fucking torture it forced Thom to endure as though he was demanded to replay the events of his past as if it was some sort of interactive game. Sadly, when he ventured into these past memories, he couldn't do what he always wanted to do. His mind would still be set on survival. Thom shook his head sighing. No, no, he wasn't going to cry. Not right now, at least. He breathed in, then breathed out.

He slowly moved both his legs onto the bed. He looked up at the crummy ceiling. Above, he could hear the creaking of a bed and the moans of a female and the occasional grunts of a male. He could smell the love sliding through the holes on the ceiling coming from up above. He closed his eyes. He scratched his neck. He remembered the event that happened on the roof of the school this afternoon. Those kids, they were so happy. They loved life, every one of them including Takasu. He may have had a worried look, but he had the looks of a bad guy. He wished he could have been like them, happy and free to care for whomever they would like too. They had the abilities that Thom had longed for. Those abilities had once been owned by Thom, but they were taken away and it seemed that they were never going to come back to him. But he would not let this go unanswered.

And with that, he fell asleep, waiting to see what would happen tomorrow.

The anger was gone. There was no need for it for now.

* * *

**Facts****:**

**- Rochina is the largest and most developed favlea in Rio de Janeiro and also the largest in Brazil. Although Rocinha is technically classified as a neighborhood, many still refer to it as a favela. It developed from a shanty town into an urbanized slum. Rocinha's population was estimated at between 150,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. Thom was born and raised in Rochina for most of his adolescence. **

**- Amigos dos Amigos** **is a criminal organization that operates in Rio de Janeiro. ADA controls many drug selling points in the North and West zones and also controls Rochina. After the assassination of their gang leader by police, various gangs fought for control of the favela, but it was unknown to the public that a new leader had taken command over ADA.**

**- Roppongi Hills Mori Tower is a 54-story mixed-used skyscraper located in Tokyo. It is currently the fifth tallest building in Tokyo at 283 meters (781 ft). The building is primarily used for office space, but it also includes retail stores, restaurants and other tourist attractions. The events that happened to Thom in the garage was not the first time a violent event occurred in the building. One of the building's tenants, livedoor, was raided by police in 2004. **

**- O Limão is a fictional small cafe located in Rochina. It's nothing special. If you're looking for a beer, then feel free to head on in. If you're looking for food, try the nearest McDonalds.**

* * *

**"The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain."  
**** -Aristotle**


End file.
